In the art of welding there exists a substantial requirement for the economical deposition of substantial quantities of solid weld metal. Exemplary applications are the repair of worn-out areas on a work-piece, engineering changes on a particular part, providing complete impressions which may involve flooding an impression full on a forging die that is to be machined, and correcting machining errors. Relatively large electrodes, which provide a fast deposit, are generally utilized for the applications named, and illustrative of the parts upon which this technique may be practiced are forge dies, press dies, trim dies, hammer bases, rams, sow blocks, columns and tie plates, and any relatively heavy industrial equipment requiring repair.
In the broad area of high deposition die welding it is known to employ electrodes of the nickel-chromium-molydenum alloy type having a diameter of the order of 1/4 inch (19.1 mm) and suitably flux coated. Electrodes of this character in commercial practice produce dense, porous-free homogenous weld deposits at a rate of approximately 60 pounds per hour utilizing about 2100 amperes. It is readily apparent that deposition rates of this magnitude represent a substantial advance in the art of shielded metal-arc welding. However, present day cost considerations demonstrate the need to deposit greater weights of high quality weld metal at a lesser value of arc time per hour.